6. The Original Yankee Stadium

Original Yankee Stadium. Image via Wikimedia Commons by Severin St. Martin

Home to one of the most eminent and decorated baseball teams in history, the former Yankee Stadium—regarded as “The Cathedral of Baseball”—served as the home ballpark for the New York Yankees from 1923 to 1973, and from 1976 to 2008. After having shared a ballpark with the Giants for ten years, owner Jacobs Ruppert was eager to have a stadium of his own; the advent of the stadium coincided with the heydays of Babe Ruth, thus begetting the name, “The House that Ruth Built.”

Yankee Stadium was one-of-a-kind in its days, being the first three-tiered sports facility in the United States, with a capacity of 58,000. Amazingly, the stadium was built in 185 days by 500 workers. From 1936 to 1938, Yankee Stadium underwent some renovations, until 1938, after which the stadium had the “classic” design that it would retain for the next 35 years. By 1970, the stadium had deteriorated, and the Yankees played all of their 1974 and 1975 home games at Shea Stadium, while the stadium was renovated at a cost of $160 million ($672 million in 2014 dollars). This cost was originally shouldered by New York City, but is now being paid off by New York State.

On August 16, 2006, after years of speculation about the future of the stadium, the construction of a new facility began. After the last game of the season was played in September of 2008, tours were conducted before demolition began in March of 2009. Today a 10-acre park, named Heritage Park, sits on the site of the old Yankee Stadium, across the street from the new stadium.

Also, read about the day the Yankees played their last game of football.